Sunday, September 9, 2018

"The next day we set off to explore, using the buddy system
for safety.Several of us set up at Grande
Chute while others canoed further down Robinson Lake to the next set of rapids.
The river trail along the Chute is rough, and has spectacular rock falls with some
boulders the size of small houses.One
could only imagine what the people travelling in this area felt thousands of
years ago. Like us they must have been in awe of the power of the water and
like us they also feared the churning rapids – and one could only wonder how
many travellers have been swept away by the swirling currents.

In the evening we sat around the campfire and traded stories
of canoe trips and art experiences. We
also discussed Wally Schaber’s book on the Dumoine, “The Last of the Wild
Rivers” and how important the River was to First Nations people as a north/south
highway.

The Indian Point Pot

I had brought clay for everyone to make a pot the way the
aboriginal people made them here thousands of years ago as evidenced by the “Indian
Point Pot”. Radiocarbon dated at 2500 years BP (before present), it was
excavated during an archaeological dig at Indian Point across from Deep River
in the early 1950’s and is now on display at the Museum of Civilization in
Ottawa. One evening we sat around the fire, surrounded by the dark forest and
silence, channeling spirits from the past. We coiled the clay into a beehive
shape that was then turned over and pinched, paddled and scraped into a thin
open vase. It could have been an evening thousands of years ago, our hands repeating
the same motions made millennia ago and resulting in pots very similar to the
Indian Point Pot – with a flared lip and a rounded bottom to better withstand
the thermal shock of cooking over open fires.

Eva Gallagher (center) demonstrates how First Nations first made pottery in this area thousands of years ago. Photo credit Scott Haig 2017.

I came back from the camp energized, ready to continue working on several
pieces that I had started at the camp. In October CPAWS hosted a very
successful gala and silent auction of the donated art in Gatineau at “The Moore
Farm”, a National Capitol Region restored post and beam barn that is open to hosting
various events. With featured guests, singer/songwriter Ian Tamblyn,
artist/environmentalist Robert Bateman, the event raised over $11,000 for the
Dumoine River project."

The idea of an art camp - that idea of bringing together
artists to work on a common theme are becoming more popular and I highly recommentd this type of experience . Hopefully CPAWS is going
to offer another Dumoine Art Camp in August 2019 so in interested look to apply early in the spring.of 2019.

Again I am way behind in my blogging so here's my effort to catch up by reprinting an article that I wrote about the Dumoine River Art Camp last August 2017. - my first art camp experience! The Dumoine River is a famous canoeing river that joins the Ottawa River about 20 miles west of Deep River. My article was first printed in our local paper the North Renfrew Times last year.

"Mention the Dumoine River and it conjures up scenes of
rapids, lakes, canoe paddles and portages. But art? Not so much! But that is
what The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Ottawa Chapter (CPAWS-OV) was
offering to artists last August – an Art Camp on the Dumoine. There was one
this year as well!

It is all part of CPAWS-OV effort to raise funds to preserve
the Dumoine River as a protected wilderness river for future generations. As
they state on their website, “it is the last un-dammed Quebec
tributary of the Ottawa River and one of only a few rivers in central Canada
free of dams.”

In return for offering free tent accommodation and meals (CPAWS
staff turned out to be excellent cooks!), the artist would get to stay for up
to 6 days at the camp. They would then donate a work of art, inspired by their
stay, for a silent auction at a gala in Ottawa in October. Here was an chance
to meet other creative people in a unique environment. Always open to new artistic
opportunities I applied as the life of an artist is not a destination but a
journey.

We were to camp at
Lake Robinson, that widening of the Dumoine River just below Grande Chute. To
minimize parking, we met up in Swisha to carpool to the Lake. Kids leaving for
their first summer camp couldn’t have been more excited than our group! It was
a challenge to load all our sleeping bags and mats, folding chairs, boxes and
suitcases of art supplies, easels, cameras, and tripods, including my box of
clay and tools into the few cars that would be driving up the rough road.

Although it has been many years since I have been up the
Dumoine, I still remember that first drive over 50 years ago – up along the
rough road past the old Bonanza Inn and the long-closed downhill ski hill and tow
on the hill opposite. It was always an adventure there to drive into the
unknown, but one always had to be wary of meeting a fully loaded lumber truck
that might come around the corner. One year we even skied to Grand Chute after
driving part of the way.

Lake Robinson Campground

The fifteen artists who attended were a pretty diverse group,
not only in age, spanning six decades – but also in artistic media. There were several
photographers, a glass artist, botanical illustrators, acrylic and watercolour
artists, both realistic and abstract and of course potters. We came from as far
away as North Bay, Vankleek Hill, Ottawa, Pembroke, Shawville and southern Ontario.
There were two of us from Deep River, photographer Bruce Winterbon and myself.

As part of our orientation, one of the CPAWS staff – conservation
biologist Elena Kreuzberg
took us on a nature tour. The Dumoine watershed is huge, covering 4400 km2 with some of the last remaining stands of old-growth
forest in eastern North America. The area is also important as a
connection between Algonquin and La
VérendryerParks,
acting as a corridor for animals moving further north from southern areas. This
will be even more important as the climate continues to get warmer."

Valley Artisans

About Me

In Dec 2009 I renamed my first blog to Centered - Focus on Clay and Creativity - as I have finished my year long journey workshop with Steven Hill. The focus will continue to be on thoughts about my work - about creativity, design and function...................
I have been making pottery off and on for 40 years, exploring many different aspects of ceramics. I named my pottery business after "The Newfoundout" - the secluded valley high in the Opeongo Hills of eastern Ontario where we own an abandoned farm and where in 2007 I built a wood-fired kiln. I normally fire in a gas kiln in Deep River, Ontario, at the Deep River Potters' Guild, but do several wood firings in the summer.
This blog originally documented my year long "journey workshop" with Steven Hill. It was an incredible "journey" which had a profound effect on my work and as was the North Bay mentorship. I highly recommend this type of workshop to anyone who is interested in exploring their work and creativity.